Drawworks mechanisms have been used in drilling rigs for decades. Drawworks are, typically, motor-driven drums used to reel in or pay out a cable used on the drilling rig to raise or lower a traveling block within the rig. The cable will typically be used with pulleys and pulley blocks attached to the top of the rig and the traveling block, respectively. The traveling block is used for tripping pipe in and out a drill string, as well known to those skilled in the art. Various methods and devices have been developed for this purpose. However, conventional arrangements require excessive physical space to house such a mechanism on a drilling rig platform.
It is, therefore, desirable to have a drawworks mechanism that is compact enough so that it may be located directly on a drilling platform yet having sufficient power and braking ability to safely reel in and pay out cable for raising and lowering a traveling block within a drilling rig.